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Turning a working web product into an app strangers can install involves more than packaging the interface. In Andrew Avery’s account of shipping PromptSpend, the work also meant protecting the trust behind its cost estimates, checking layouts on real devices, and allowing for app-store account processes that can take weeks.
PromptSpend answers a practical question—with estimates, not bills
PromptSpend estimates published large language model (LLM) API charges from a representative conversation or token counts combined with traffic assumptions. It can show estimated cost per conversation and projected daily, monthly, and yearly totals, and compare as many as four models against the same workload.
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Those figures are decision aids rather than invoices. Actual charges can differ because of provider behavior, regional or negotiated rates, model changes, the shape of real workloads, and the assumptions used in a projection. A cheaper result is not automatically the better choice: the workload and the estimate’s assumptions need to match the use case.
The Canadian App Store listing describes inputs and outputs that include prompt-cache writes, long-context tiers, reasoning assumptions, batch discounts, and conversation growth. It also lists saved scenarios, exports, receipts, educational guides, a price catalog with source and check dates, and optional email price alerts. The listing says native push notifications are not included in that release. Store availability and requirements can vary by region and change over time. See PromptSpend’s Canadian App Store listing.
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Reuse the calculation engine, not the assumption that mobile is just another web page
Avery describes coming to the project after 15 years in operations and P&L roles. For the mobile build, he says he used Expo and React Native, and extracted the cost engine into a shared package used by the web app, API, MCP server, and mobile apps. Sharing the arithmetic means those surfaces can use the same calculation logic; it does not remove the separate work of making an app usable on different devices or meeting store-release requirements.
He also says builds ran through Expo’s cloud service. Staying on its free tier, which he describes as having a monthly iOS build cap, influenced his workflow: he batched fixes and used local and Android checks before spending an iOS build. That is a project-specific account of managing a build limit, not a universal build strategy.
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For a price tool, freshness and uncertainty are part of the product
Avery says he chose not to bundle a static pricing file with the app because its contents could age after release. Instead, PromptSpend fetches a live catalog at launch. If that fetch fails, the app uses its last good copy for up to 24 hours and displays a warning; after that, it refuses to calculate.
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In the retrospective, Avery describes the catalog at that time as covering about 80 models from 12 providers, checked each morning, with a source and last-confirmed date attached to each price. Those are his snapshot and operational claims from 2026, not an independently audited description of the catalog today.
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The fallback design makes a useful distinction: an estimate based on recently confirmed prices can still be shown with a warning, but a calculation is withheld when the available data is too old. As Avery puts the principle, “A missing number is better than a confident wrong one.” Anyone using a projected cost should still check the assumptions against a representative workload and the prices that apply to their own provider, region, and agreement.
On-device prompt handling has a specific email-alert exception
Avery says token counting happens on-device, pasted prompts are not uploaded or saved, and shared results contain derived counts and costs rather than prompt text. Apple’s listing likewise says prompt text is processed on-device and not uploaded or saved; saved scenarios and appearance settings stay on the device.
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Optional price alerts work differently: the developer disclosures say that an email address and the alert choices a user submits are transmitted for that feature. The App Store listing reports no native account, advertising SDK, behavioral analytics, cross-app tracking, or tracking identifier. These are developer disclosures, not an independent security audit; Apple notes that app privacy information is not verified by Apple.
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Green automated tests did not settle device QA
Avery reports testing on an iPhone, an iPad, and a Galaxy A15. He gives the phone’s price as $103 at the time of his account; that is a historical figure, not a current price or buying recommendation. Despite a green automated suite, he says physical-device testing still found issues.
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That experience points to two different QA questions. Automated tests can check whether calculation logic behaves as expected. Running the app on actual hardware can expose layout or usability problems that logic tests do not answer. Avery’s summary is: “tests prove the logic. Only a cheap physical phone proves the layout.” One tested Android model is an example of his process, not proof that one device is sufficient for broad device coverage.
Store accounts can become a release dependency
Avery says he first enrolled with Apple as an individual and later converted to an organization, delaying iOS builds during the migration. For Google Play, he reports a closed-test process and organization identity checks that included a D-U-N-S number and website verification. He says he converted the account to an organization and advises allowing weeks rather than days for account logistics.
Google’s 14-day testing rule is scoped to certain personal accounts
Google Play Console Help says personal developer accounts created after 13 November 2023 must run a closed test with at least 12 testers continuously opted in for at least 14 days before they can apply for production access. This rule applies to eligible personal accounts, not every developer. Completing the test makes an account eligible to apply; it does not guarantee production approval. Account-specific requirements should be checked in the developer’s own Play Console. Google Play’s testing requirements for new personal developer accounts.
Separate the launch account from independently verified availability
Avery’s article says PromptSpend is live on both stores. The Canadian App Store listing identifies it as free in Developer Tools and specifies iOS 16.4 or later for iPhone and iPadOS 16.4 or later for iPad. Those are regional, time-sensitive listing details. Android availability is reported by Avery; a direct Google Play listing was not independently confirmed in the available sources.
Quick Recap
What the launch account means for a first-time mobile release
- Reuse a shared calculation engine where it helps maintain consistent results, but plan separately for mobile interfaces, device QA, and store processes.
- If a product relies on changing prices, show where prices came from and when they were checked; define what happens when refresh fails or data gets too old.
- Describe privacy by feature. On-device prompt processing does not mean an optional alert feature transmits no information.
- Use automated tests and physical devices for different kinds of checks; one does not replace the other.
- Model API costs with a representative workload, and treat the result as an estimate whose assumptions matter—not as a promise of what a provider will bill.
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